Log in/Register

Please log in or register to continue. Registration is free and requires only your email address.

Log in

Register

Emailrequired

PasswordrequiredRemember me?

Please enter your email address and click on the reset-password button. You'll receive an email shortly with a link to create a new password. If you have trouble finding this email, please check your spam folder.

To continue reading, please log in or enter your email address.

To access our archive, please log in or register now and read two articles from our archive every month for free. For unlimited access to our archive, as well as to the unrivaled analysis of PS On Point, subscribe now.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram was Assistant Director-General and Coordinator for Economic and Social Development in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and received the 2007 Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.

The most effective way to spur growth in the developing world is through self financed, non governmental, market driven solutions that focus large sums of capital on a very few newly created financial and industrial specific industries.

For centuries, throughout the world, people living in desert climates have carefully channeled rain water into ever greater channels and catch basins to be used by all. This idea is based upon the same careful channeling of scarce resources into a more effective and productive use of such assets.

Take the common ordinary mutual fund. Or unit trust as it is known in some areas.

Create one, that is managed by a management company that is 80% owned by a development foundation and 20% by a private/public engineering and planning company.

Have this mutual fund have the ability to trade units in the fund for cash, stocks, bonds (both government and corporate) from financial institutions from every developing and then developed country in the world.

At a large enough size in assets this mutual fund would act as a quasi alternative reserve currency peg. Sort of the savings account to a currency checking account.

Instead of choosing the dollar or some other currency, financial institutions could instead trade for units in this single large fund. It would only work with one. A group of funds competing for assets would defeat the purpose.

This would actually be providing a much needed service to developing countries who do not wish to be so heavily reliant upon domestic currencies, US dollars, and other major currencies.

Next, instead of a Tobin Tax assessed by governments, the fund would pay a 1% management fee to the management company. As the fund would initially, and for some years, be targeted at financial institutions and employing and low trading method (besides currency for redemption's) both the foundation and the planning and engineering company overseeing foundation projects would be well financed.

A mutual fund of say $10 trillion in currency, bonds, and stocks could well provide up to $50 billion per year in revenue to a foundation.

The foundation would be focused on three areas.

Planting of trees and other methods of improving agriculture output worldwide.

Water projects worldwide.

Infrastructure projects involving large capital outlays.

Next, in conjunction with and initially financed by the mutual fund, the concept would be to create 6 regional development companies, publicly traded, covering the entire world.

The mutual fund, fund management company, foundation and engineering management company, along with the 6 regional development companies are described in greater detail here.

http://greenrivergroup.blogspot.com/

It is again an idea with no government ownership, focused on sustainable growth worldwide, and provides targeted solutions in tandem with work being done by countless thousands of other institutions worldwide.